Mothers' fury at 'conveyor belt' births

Katya Gorman always thought having a baby would be an intimate affair. She wanted people around her she could trust: her husband, her doctor and her midwife.

Instead, during her pregnancy, she was seen by 36 different people and had her baby delivered by a midwife whose name she did not know.

Women are being forced to see a greater number of health professionals during pregnancy than ever before. According to medical experts, an expectant mother now sees, on average, 26 doctors and midwives in the nine months leading to the birth.

Janice Muir, spokeswoman for the National Childbirth Trust, said: 'It is vitally important that women build a relationship based on trust with their midwife. It can be extremely traumatic having your baby delivered by someone you've never met before.'

Katya Gorman agrees. 'When I look back, I can't really believe I was pushed from person to person the way I was. I ended up being in labour for 38 hours and I'm convinced the constant change in staff made me less relaxed and prolonged everything. I really missed out on the whole birth experience because no one was speaking to me. I didn't build up a relationship with anyone and I left hospital feeling very down.'

Heading the health profes sionals a woman sees when pregnant is the family GP. After a positive pregnancy test at the local surgery, she would then be booked to see a midwife.

At 12 weeks there would be a hospital appointment for a scan with an ultrasonographer. Shortly afterwards, the expectant mother would have her first meeting with a hospital obstetrician, when she would see another midwife, based at the hospital.

A few weeks later she would check in with her doctor and visit the surgery-based midwife. At this stage, it is likely she would see another midwife due to staff rotation, holidays or sickness. At 36 weeks there would be another trip to the maternity unit, seeing a different doctor and midwife than on the first visit. Interspersed are appointments at the surgery and antenatal classes with different midwives.

At 40 weeks there is the final trip to hospital to see, yet again, a different doctor and midwife.

During labour the woman would be seen by at least four midwives, plus three student midwives, at least two doctors and an anaesthetist. If there are any complications, up to 10 people could be involved in labour. In the postnatal ward, the new mum could be assisted by a further eight midwives.

Melanie Every, a senior adviser at the Royal College of Midwives, said: 'This is a particularly worrying trend. It comes down to not having enough resources to employ the required number of midwives. Those that are working have an ever-increasing caseload, with less time for individual mothers.

'Because of this pressure, more midwives are opting to work part-time, which means an increased likelihood of women seeing different midwives each time they have an appointment.'

Every says that when a mother is anxious the baby's heartbeat can increase. This can lead to unnecessary intervention and, in some cases, an instrumental delivery. 'The age profile of the profession is between 40 and 55,' she says. In 10 years' time, these women will retire and, unless we invest in training, there will not be enough people to replace them.'

Gorman paid £2,000 for private care at the Wessex Maternity Centre for her second baby. 'I would have spent 10 times that because the whole experience was so much better. Each midwife has a yearly caseload of around 30 people, so you build up a really close relationship with the two people looking after you. I was in labour for only four hours and I put that down to being so relaxed.

'Lots of my friends have had awful experiences on the NHS. I bet thousands of women are giving birth in front of strangers. It's traumatic enough without feeling you are just another faceless cog in the wheel.'